Scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving has continued to grow in popularity over the last decade and has rapidly progressed from a sport enjoyed only by a select group of people to an activity in which the entire family can participate. The predominance of privately run scuba certification classes around the country and abroad has tremendously increased the diving population over the recent years. In addition to the recreational aspects of the sport, scuba diving continues to be practiced for many commercial, technical, scientific and military purposes.
Coastal vacation resorts often offer a range of available courses for those who wish to experience scuba diving. These courses range from an introductory resort course, where a new diver can take a quick orientation lesson and then be accompanied by an experienced guide into an open water environment, to a week long scuba certification program, where the diver receives a certification card and is then capable of unsupervised diving. These certification courses are often endorsed by one of several national scuba organizations. As a result, private dive companies typically have a large percentage of beginner or first time scuba divers under their supervision.
When properly trained, scuba diving is a safe and enjoyable sport. However, there are certain inherent risks associated with scuba diving that will always need to be addressed. These risks must be addressed by both the individual scuba divers and the dive operators who are supervising the trip. Even on a short dive, a scuba diver can cover a large area and lose his sense of direction very easily. Furthermore, underwater navigation can be confusing, particularly for a beginning scuba diver. Poor visibility, bad weather, strong water currents and various other factors can result in a diver becoming separated from the dive leader. It is not uncommon for a scuba diver to surface several hundred yards away from the rest of the dive group or the dive boat. In these cases it becomes essential to quickly locate the missing diver so that he can be retrieved or otherwise rescued.
Various signaling devices have been developed for such situations. However, many of these devices have relied upon audible signals, such as whistles or horns. These audible signaling devices require some level of manual dexterity to activate and may not successfully attract the attention of a boat which has twenty to thirty other noisy divers on board. This, in combination with the boat noise and normal environmental noise, renders most of these devices ineffective. A novice diver may not feel comfortable removing his air source (regulator) from his mouth in order to blow a whistle or may not have the strength to activate another audible device. Muscle cramps, fatigue or other injuries may further prevent a diver from activating such a device. Even audible devices which operate on the remaining air pressure in a scuba tank may be ineffective. If the air pressure in the tank is running low, which is typically the case at the end of a dive, there may not be enough pressure to sustain an audible sound for a long enough period of time. The low air pressure may not even activate such a device at all.
Other inflatable signaling devices require the diver to remove the inflatable device from a pocket in the buoyancy control device (BCD) or unclip it from a BCD. After removing the inflatable device from its storage location, the diver must locate the inflation opening and manually connect the inflatable devices to some air source, either an alternative air source (e.g., a SPAREAIR(trademark) bottle or the octopus). When the diver is exhausted and panicky, this is not the optimal procedure.
It is not only the novice diver who must be conscious of these problems. Experienced divers, even those with substantial specialized training, must frequently signal a boat or a rescue team which may be far away from their surfacing location. In particular, an underwater photographer, rescue diver, commercial maintenance diver, or other diver who carries various pieces of extra equipment, may not have a free hand to easily allow him to activate an audible signaling device or inflate other devices. While experienced, typically, these types of divers will ark also have expended significant energy during the dive and are also susceptible to incidences of fatigue or injury. Furthermore, if an experienced diver is in trouble or surfaces far from the boat, it is more likely that there will be rough water at the surface. Particularly in these circumstances it will be difficult to activate an audible signaling device or inflate other devices that require user interaction.
The need exists for a signaling device which requires minimal user intervention to activate, will maintain a signal for a prolonged period of time and can be noticed at a distance with large swells.
The present invention comprises a hands free signaling device and method for signaling with minimal manual intervention. A preferred embodiment of one aspect of the invention comprises an inflatable member and an inflation fitting adapted to provide communication between the internal volume of the inflatable member and integrate the device with the inflation source.
In another aspect of the invention, the hands free signaling device is removably integral with a buoyancy compensation and can be activated automatically or manually.